East in control as Dinda, Ahmed skittle out Central cheaply

Bengal speedsters Ashok Dinda and Mohammed Shami Ahmed bowled at a brisk pace to bowl Central Zone out for a paltry 133 on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final at the Holkar Stadium here on Sunday.

At stumps, East Zone were 88 for three -- still 46 shy of procuring the first innings lead. Anustup Majumdar (46 batting) and Wriddhiman Saha (14 batting) were at the crease at the end of day’s play.

The strip had a fair amount of juice and East Zone captain Nataraj Behera’s decision to field was vindicated by Dinda (4/29) and Shami (4/73). Basant Mohanty complemented the duo picking up two useful wickets.

Although Dinda had the best figures on the day, Bengal youngster Shami, who was playing his first Duleep Trophy match, impressed one and all with his lively pace although he went for a few runs.

At the start, Central opener Naman Ojha (44, 80 balls, 7x4) had to retire when he got hit in the abdominal region by a Dinda delivery.

Mohammed Kaif then joined Rajasthan opener Vineet Saxena.

Breakthrough

Dinda finally provided breakthrough in the seventh over of his first spell when Kaif was done in by Dinda’s pace and was adjudged leg-before for just nine runs. Shami ended Saxena’s painstaking knock of three runs off 48 balls by cleaning bowling the Ranji Trophy final hero.

At 23 for two, Ojha came back to join Mohnish Mishra (21, 74b, 3x4) and the duo then cautiously added 59 runs for the third wicket before Mohanty’s probing channel bowling paid dividends.

Mishra’s resistance ended when he edged one to give Wriddhiman his second catch of the match and in the very next over, it was Shami, who induced an edge from Ojha to reduce Central to 86 for four. All eyes were on Robin Bist (1) but he failed to make an impact as he flicked one off Shami to Dinda at mid-wicket. At 91 for five, there wasn’t much left. Central skipper Piyush Chawla (26, 24b 3x4, 1x6) started throwing his bat as the home team crossed the three-figure mark.

But Dinda, who returned to the second spell, scalped Buvaneshwar Kumar, Rituraj Singh and Chawla to take his season’s tally of wickets to 56.

Score board

Central Zone (I Innings): Naman Ojha C Saha B Shami Ahmed 44, Vineet Saxena b Shami Ahmed 3, Mohammad Kaif lbw Dinda 9, Mohnish Mishra c Saha b Mohanty 21, Robin Bist c Dinda b Shami Ahmed 1, Parvinder Singh b Mohanty 8, Piyush Chawla c Shami Ahmed b Dinda 26, Jalaj Saxena c Saha b Shami Ahmed 4, Bhuvneshwar Kumar c Majumdar b Dinda 4, Rituraj Singh c Majumdar b Dinda 0, TP Sudhindra (not out) 4. Extras (B-1, LB-6, NB-2) 9. Total (all out, 49.3 overs) 133.

Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-23, 3-82, 4-86, 5-91, 6-101, 7-110, 8-122, 9-122.
Bowling: Ashok Dinda 13.3-3-29-4, Basant Mohanty 17-10-22-2, Shami Ahmed 16-4-73-4, Biplab Samantray 3-1-2-0.
East Zone (I Innings): Manish Vardhan b Sudhindra 4, Dheeraj Jadhav 11, Anustup Majumdar (not out) 46, Ishank Jaggi lbw Sudhindra 9, Wriddhiman Saha (not out) 14. Extras (LB-3, NB-1) 4. Total (for 3 wkts, 34 overs) 88.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-24, 3-48.
Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 11-1-28-0, TP Sudhindra 11-4-25-2, Rituraj Singh 10-3-23-1, Piyush Chawla 2-0-9-0.